Like A Family
by IllegitimatePrincess
Summary: Laura and Carmilla pick up a couple of strays on their way home.


**I didn't know where I was going with this, but I was having writer's block while wrapping up my story Crushed and this happened. I don't know what this is, but here. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Carmilla. The web series or the book, though I do own a copy of the book and have seen all the episodes. I only own Rain and Tawny, my two OC's.**

'Excuse me, can one of you spare a dollar?' A small male voice says from behind two young ladies.

They both turn around to look at the owner of the voice. Two kids, a boy about 12 and a girl about 7, stand in the middle of the sidewalk. The boy has golden brown hair, while the girl's is ebony black. They both have the same icy blue eyes and fair skin tone. They look like they haven't changed in weeks, their clothes riddled with holes and smeared with dirt and what seem to be blood stains.

The two girls look at each other. One of them has honey blonde hair and dark hazel eyes, wearing jeans and a grey Silas University pullover. The other girl has dark brown, wavy hair and deep brown eyes, wearing a red and black flannel over a black tank top and black skinny jeans.

The blonde looks at the brunette. 'We can't just leave them here. It's getting late and it's the middle of winter. They'll freeze.'

The brunette sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. 'You're really willing to bring home strays? We live in a DORM ROOM, Laura.'

Laura pouts. 'Carmilla, you can't expect me NOT to want to. Even if we live in a dorm room, they can sleep in my bed. I never use it anyway.'

She winks after the last sentence, causing Carmilla to blush un-noticeably. 'Fine. But we're gonna have to get them new clothes. Those ones are ruined.'

The two kids in question just stood there during the exchange, the boy making sure the girl was okay. When the girls approach them, the girl hugs the boy's arm.

Laura gets down to their level and puts on a kind smile. 'Hey there. How about instead of a dollar, you guys come home with us? We'll get you fed and cleaned up, then you two can rest and we'll figure this out tomorrow.'

The boy looks at her skeptically, glancing at the girl every so often. After what seemed like hours of silence, but in reality was about 5 minutes, the boy nods curtly. He holds the little girls hand as Laura leads them to the dorm, Carmilla heading off to buy them clothes, food, soap, and anything else they might need. When she gets back, she sees Laura, LaFontaine, Perry, and Danny sitting around the dorm, talking quietly so as not to wake up the sleeping kids.

'Did you get everything?' Laura whispers, helping Carmilla with the bags.

'Clothes, food, soap...what else was there to get?'

The others help put everything away before telling the two they'll see them later. After a few hours, at around 11 at night, the two kids are still asleep.

'Poor things...they must've really had it tough.' Laura says quietly, breaking the silence.

She and Carmilla are on the other bed, Laura's head on Carmilla's chest, each wrapped up in the safety of the other.

Carmilla nods slightly, humming a response.

'What do you think happened to them?' Laura presses.

'Hmmm...I don't know. Judging from the blood stains and the dirt, they could've been running from something. They also could've been jumped. There's no way of knowing for sure until we ask.' Carmilla supplies, eyes closed while she runs her fingers through Laura's hair absentmindedly.

'I guess you're right.' Laura says, dozing off.

When they wake up, the two kids are sitting on the other bed, taking in their surroundings.

'Good morning.' Carmilla says, kissing Laura on the forehead. 'Your strays are awake.'

'Good morning.' Laura directs at Carmilla, then sits up and smiles at the kids. 'Did you guys sleep alright? You conked out the minute you got here.'

The kids nod, but remain silent. 'I'm Laura and this is my girlfriend, Carmilla.'

The boy looks up, cautiously. 'Rain. This is my little sister, Tawny.'

Laura gets up and gets the shower stuff out of the bags they have yet to put away. 'Carmilla went out and got you guys some basic necessities and some clothes. I bet you're eager to take a shower and change.'

Rain still seems hesitant, but takes a new pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, socks and underwear, and the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash he'll be using. Before he goes into the bathroom, he says something to Tawny.

When Rain closes the door and the water starts running, Carmilla notices Tawny has a large cut on her arm. She gets the first aid kit from one of the drawers and a warm, damp washrag to clean her arm.

'What are you doing, Carm?' Laura asks, kinda surprised.

'She's got a pretty big cut on her arm. If it doesn't get cleaned and bandaged, it could get very infected.' Carmilla says, sounding somewhat worried.

'Hey cupcake. Can I see your arm?' Carmilla directs towards Tawny, who shakes her head and holds her arm close to her. 'I'm not gonna hurt you. It hurts now, doesn't it?' Tawny nods slowly. 'If you let me clean it, we can make it stop hurting.'

Tawny reluctantly rolls up her sleeve, revealing a gash going from the inside of her elbow to just under her wrist. There are smaller scrapes and cuts all over her arm and her hand, but they're not as serious. Carmilla gets to work cleaning around the cut with the washrag, then gently on the cut so there's no dried blood or dirt blocking her view of the actual cut. It's still bleeding, but not as bad as it could. Looking closely, Carmilla can see bits of glass that could easily be missed. At that moment, Rain gets out of the bathroom.

'Perfect timing, kid. Laura, can you get me the tweezers?' Carmilla asks.

'Normally I'd wait until you say please, but I'll let it slide this time considering the circumstances.' Laura says, handing Carmilla the tweezers.

'Thanks.' Carmilla says, then looks at Tawny. 'This might sting a little, okay? What I need you to do is not move your arm at all. If you do, it'll hurt worse. Laura, can you, please, get me something to put the shards in and something for her to bite on?'

'Shards? Shards of what?' Laura and Rain ask simultaneously. Tawny just looks up at Carmilla, a little confused.

'She has very small bits of glass in the cut on her arm. That's why it hasn't healed yet and why it's hurting her so much.' Carmilla explains, then gets to work once Laura brings her a bowl and one of her shirts.

Several minutes later, after some muffled screams and whimpers, all of the glass is out and the cut is disinfected and bandaged up. Laura puts some plastic over it so Tawny can take a shower.

'How did you know she had glass in her cut?' Rain asks, looking at Carmilla once Tawny's in the shower.

'I had a feeling since she could barely move her arm without wincing and it was still bleeding. It looked like it wasn't very recent, so it shouldn't have been bleeding. Then I saw the glass when I was cleaning the cut out.' Carmilla explains, looking over at Laura who's putting away the rest of the stuff.

Rain stays silent for a short while before looking Carmilla in the eyes. 'We never said it before...but thank you. You probably saved out lives.'

'I'm not the one you should be thanking. Laura's the one who brought you two strays home. She paid for your clothes and the soap and stuff.' Carmilla says, smiling at her girlfriend.

'Thank you, Laura. For everything.'

'I couldn't very well let you two freeze out there.' Laura says, smiling. The water shuts off and Laura walks towards the bathroom to help Tawny get dressed. When Laura's done helping Tawny, the two go into the room to find Rain asleep on Carmilla's lap.

'What happened?' Tawny asks, speaking for the first time since they found them.

'Your brother and I were talking and he just dozed off. You guys have had a rough time, you should get some sleep too.' Carmilla says softly.

'Laura, can you hold me until I fall asleep? I can't fall asleep without being held...I get nightmares otherwise.' Tawny says, looking up at Laura with her big blue eyes.

'Of course.' Laura smiles and lays on the other bed, Tawny cuddling close to her.

After a while, Laura looks at Carmilla. 'We look like a family. An odd family, but a family.'

Carmilla chuckles. 'Yeah. We do, actually.'

**Okay, believe it or not, but this was actually supposed to be Jori, not Hollstein. I started it out to be Jori, but then I thought 'I haven't done any Hollstein stories yet' so I changed directions. Luckily, I thought that at the beginning before I did the girls' descriptions so I didn't have to rewrite the whole story. Rain and Tawny were always gonna be in the story though. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and I'll see ya'll next time. Hasta luego mi pastelitos!**


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